[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/02/26/art.boehner.youtube.jpg caption="John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid all answered questions posed by YouTube users Friday."]Washington (CNN) - In his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner asked the crowd to imagine what Congress would look like if he became Speaker of the House - a prospect that has become more likely as the political environment sours for Democrats.
A confident-sounding Boehner continued to float that possibility on Thursday after the bipartisan health care summit with President Obama in a post-meeting question and answer session with YouTube users. Video of his chat which was posted Friday morning.
"If I become Speaker of the House, we are going to run the House differently, different from the current majority and from past Republican ones," he promised, answering a question from a YouTube user who demanded that legislators read lengthy bills before voting on them.
"And if I become Speaker there will be a 72 hour reading period before any bill is brought to the floor," the Ohio Republican added, repeating a pledge he made at CPAC.
"We don't need these really big bills," he said. "We can keep these bills smaller, more targeted, so that people actually can read them and understand what they are voting on before they come to the floor."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also sat down for interviews with YouTube users after the health care summit.
Why don't you focus less on the election and more on the problems facing America.
Its a cycle. If you don't corporate with a Democratic Majority, when you become a majority the Democrats won't support you.
Why don't you start doing things differently now and claim to be the party that changed washington ....NOW!!!
Even though I'm a liberal, I can understand why conservatives have such a burning hatred for Nancy Pelosi. She is a lightweight, totally in over her head. I agree with her on most issues, but it's hard to imagine anyone thinking she is doing a good job as Speaker.
However, if you think this moron would be better, you're fooling yourself. The idea of Boehner having the kind of power that the Speaker of the House enjoys is like something out of a horror movie.
Wake up America! Do you really want a GOP controlled House led by Boehner who will take marching orders from Rush Limbaugh, Tea Party Movement, NRA, and the Health Insurance Industry?
He`s just a male version of Pelosi
Pelosi slams the GOP for the exact or worst #s by the Dems.She is 4 and the door.She needs time with the grand children,not congress.
The King of the party of no as house speaker, no thanks, nothing will get done.
Sometimes, I imagine I'm a baseball player, or an astronaut, or a fireman.
Imagination is fun.
Boner imagines he has brown skin.
then it will be our way or the highway again like the good ol' days. remember those days gone by. we were sipping our mint julips, and watching the workers out on the plantation. ahhhhhhhh, those were the days.
So this has been his motivation, I thought it was he didn't like the Pres. If he does become speaker will he still have time to tan? Hopefully people are smart enough to understand that having him as speaker would mean we've gone back in time to when Americans were losing their civil rights to fear tactics, more tax breaks for the rich, starting more wars, giving the corporations more government handouts to move jobs overseas, importing more mexicans to do the work Americans didn't want to do, fewer people with health insurance, less regulation on the banks and wall street, more segragation of everything. I can't wait for the good times to roll.
Anybody would be better than Pelosi.
I certainly hope not. He wouldn't make a good Speaker of the House. None of the Conservatives would. This should be a warning shot to all the Moderates, Liberals, and Progressives – don't let the Conservatives take over the Congress! It will be bad news – the Conservatives follow a failed ideology.
VOTE PROGRESSIVE 2010!
In your dreams, Boehner!!!
I have a question – hey Boehner, why are you such a boner?
"We don't need these really big bills," he said. "We can keep these bills smaller, more targeted, so that people actually can read them and understand what they are voting on before they come to the floor."
That is total bull. The complexities of ANY bill to ensure all points are well-covered as to assure the bill, if it becomes law, to be Constitutional and not thrown out by the courts, make it necessary for the bill to be wordy and long. He knows this, but he just uses the talking point to convince less-educated people that he can supposedly 'do it better' than everybody ever before him. Please. And the man is a gloomy gus who never smiles (is he ever happy about anything in his life?). If he should become Speaker, which I doubt, I pray he's not going to be an 'all about me' guy like Newt was.
Let's see how long that "promise" lasts if these guys get back into power. Democrats may be afraid of their own shadow but Republicans have a whole industry of lobbyists and special interests invested in them taking power in Washington. With power comes payoffs – these people are not going to sit by and wait for after 2012 for their payoffs because there is a strong chance that Obama will win re-election. Maybe the first two Republican bills may see the light of day but the bulk of them will never be available for the public to read. The pork and special deals in those bills will be so putrid that the Republicans will try to pass them as quickly as possible.
Ohh, God forbid Boehner is ever speaker of the house. Talk about a "do-nothing" Congress!!!
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also sat down for interviews with YouTube users after the health care summit."
So where's the ticker articles about what they said? OR...and I know this is going to be hard to rap your head around...you could've put it all in the same article. Shocking. Hamby is a hack.
A serious checkup from the neckup is needed.This man may suffer from having his brain fried in a tanning bed.
It would appear to me that the time for most States to start exercising their own form of good fiscal practices (aka downsizing bureaucracy) and start telling the Fed to Fed-off is about to come to fruition. Think of it, a State to choose from on how you wish to live, the liberal States could exercise their liberal form of government while the conservative States could exercise their form of government. If you did not like it, you are free to move to the State of your choice....Is this not more in line with what our Constitutional freedoms are about?
PLEASE BECOME SPEAKER. Or anyone but Nancy... actually.
This "I didn't have time to read the bill" lie needs to stop. Bills are posted on congress.gov for the entire world to read once a first draft is done. Then the congress goes through a long process of debate and small changes are made. All the congressmen need to do is to keep track of the small changes. Remember, this is not some bedtime reading. It's their day job to keep track of the changes. The talking point: The Dems are so secretive, I didn't have time to read the bill, the dog ate my homework, blah blah.
I would like for John Boehner to say something with some substance for once. He's nothing but a walking talking point.
I'm not a lib and many of you are probably guessing. There are people in the GOP who are rational and bring real substance to the table. Boehner is an embarassment to the GOP in my opinion. See also Cantor.
Lord help us if this comes about. This man can't handle the truth. Every day is a campaign day for him, not a problem-solving day. Do we have enough orange spray to cover him for an extended period of time? Just asking...
-- a prospect that has become more likely as the political environment sours for Democrats--
Seriously???? Let’s talk in November. I don’t believe any person engaged in politics has forgotten who the previous administration was in charge. I love news pieces that included personal opinion; maybe you can get your own pundit show on CNN
And they say the President is "uppity."
And then gridlock will become policy, instead of just a Republican tactic.